The Great Fire

The seventh studio album by Orange County metalcore sextet Bleeding Through shows no signs of slowing down. The opening instrumental, “The March,” cuts to the marrow with doomy guitars revving like a motorcycle over a gradual ascension of blasted beats and dueling leads. Making good on the band's moniker, this bleeds through to the next song, “Faith in Fire,” where buzzsaw riffs and pummeling rhythms hoist Brandan Schieppati, who screams with a rare intensity. “Goodbye to Death” detonates and decomposes all at once, creating cacophonous chaos as winding guitars battle with rapid-fire rhythms. In “Final Hours,” the band delivers an awesome punch of gang vocals over a sinister succession of fretboard-climbing leads, though the dark, anthemic chorus makes this one stand out. Haunting piano notes set the tone for “Walking Dead,” another exceptional tune that borrows from Wolves in the Throne Room’s slant on ambient black metal before discharging a heavy artillery of rhythmic rounds that spray over chugging riffs as Schieppati tosses out guttural growls.